Health & Wellbeing: Dealing with children's anxieties

Anxiety – a feeling of fear or unease – is something that, thankfully, we now acknowledge and talk about as a society. But how can early years practitioners support young children through natural anxiety and recognise when additional help is needed?

‘Anxiety is a sense of worry or fear that everyone has at some point in their life,’ says Abi Miranda, head of early years and prevention at Anna Freud. ‘Anxiety has effects on the body like changes to our breathing, changes to our heart rate, stomach aches or flutters, fatigue, and nausea.’

She says anxiety can look different in young children and depends on factors such as their personality, neuro-developmental needs and stage of communication. ‘A pre-verbal child will not be able to articulate that they are anxious, but it may be observable in behaviour like not wanting to leave their caregivers, excessive crying, avoiding particular situations, or physical behaviour, like hitting out at others,’ explains Miranda. ‘Children who have developed their communication systems may be able to express their feelings, or they may be able to identify bodily sensations such as a tummy ache that indicate that they are worried. It is important to remember that fear looks different in people, and that some children may seem more withdrawn, whereas others may display a more aggressive response as a sign that they are struggling to cope with feelings of worry or fear.’